So I love art that makes you furious, because I'm in on it. Andy Warhol put the abstract expressionists out of business in one night with that soup can. What's, I guess, the point of view of your collection?Īll art that lasted in history made people insane when it first came out. The Baltimore Museum of Art is where Waters says he first learned about art. And know that my collection is a good one, and they would have given me other stuff, but I just thought this was more with my sense of humour and the kind of art, and my career and everything, it just seemed more fitting to me. Well, I wanted to comment on it and not be too grand. And maybe people can meet there?īut of course, it's a mockery of those who do give great gifts and then have halls named after them, buildings named after them, because they've given a donation. They did also name a rotunda after me in their gallery, but I said, 'That's fine, but I really want the bathrooms.'Īnd they kept thinking I was kidding, but I wasn't because I don't want to be too pretentious, you know. a trans bathroom that they don't have yet, but I think that might be coming, which will be even more of an honour. I think there might be a third if they ever have. Waters, how big an honour is it to have not one, but two washrooms named after you? Waters spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off about the collection, the museum and the 'ridiculous elitism' of the art world. 'John's generosity, friendship, and commitment to his hometown are boundless,' Clair Zamoiski Segal, the museum's board chair, said in a press release. The collection includes some of Waters' own work, as well as pieces by 125 artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman and more. In exchange for the bequest of 372 pieces, the campy cult film director asked the Baltimore Museum of Art to name its bathrooms in his honour - a fitting tribute for the man who calls himself the 'Pope of Trash.' John Waters has a massive collection of art that he says makes people 'furious,' and he's leaving it all to his hometown museum.

John waters museum